ROOSEVELT CREED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23897, 26 August 1939, Page 5

ROOSEVELT CREED

« UNREPENTANT LIBERAL ii A RECENT PRONOUNCEMENT SHOCK FOR OLD GUARD . "• . r_ ~~ ' ■ For many weeks—since the Congresslonal election, in fact—speculation j upon the line President Roosevelt would hike as between the Right and : the Left in domestic politics has, engaged all classes of the American I . people, writes the New York correspondent of the Sydney Morning !. Herald. , H# Would- he be influenced by his ' - party’s losses in that election, and. as !;vi matter of political expediency face : about? Would he seek to win over p-.ttie conservative elements that have "’Tormed the backbone of his oonosi-]-.tion for the past two years? • Would ■ be abandon or dilute that liberalism radicalism, if you prefer) which •brought him three successive victories? f*fjr would he remain faithful to the of the ‘‘under-privileged’ battles he had fought through■fput the earlier years of hifi administraffiHon? •: These are the questions which have Iclpeen' asked countless times in the i'/press, in the Congress, and wherever if#lse thoughtful men and women meet Rio take stock of their future. !"’v.For a time the President seemed to : ; yleld to the importunities; of business i.bdvisers, who tried to convince him I that the party in power must make Efpeace with the Industrial interests if solid prosperity was ever to be enjoyed again by the nation as a whole. 1,. He seemed to see the importance of appeasing such interests. To that end 'fife announced that he had no new ■ "legislative projects to lay before ConEess; the New Deal as a system at 3t had been rounded out. The Public Utilities , • I VHe reorganised the Department of ; Commerce by substituting the eneriilgetlc Mr Harry L. Hopkins, adminis- ! trator-in-chief of relief, for Mr Daniel iiC. Roper as head of that department. ;flpith membership in his Cabinet, He •'approved pronouncement's of both Mr ,"Hopkins, and of Mr Henry Morgenthau, Jim. Secretary of the Treasury, that ; new taxes would me proposed, and , that, if possible, certain tax reductions

would’ be made. . fe’.He buried his feud with the fire at "public utilities interests, of the country: by announcing that the Governpent would not further enter into competition wih these public service corporations. He drew into Washington many of the leading big business : men of this essentially business nation, and exchanged views With them upon ,measures to reduce unemployment and to snfjedup production/ He pointed to the value of -his rearmament pro- [ gramme—upon which the Government fds spending bundfieds of millions of 'dollars—as a stimulus to industrial 'reiiViyal and’: activity. r Ip other-, words, he appeared before 'the country as a changed man. He did not go openly conservative; to be reure, but'he showed; a greater sympathy Übp ,the>.,conservative- ; ,; point 'than- it ■ arafc time* since :he..has i occupied Ppd r Presidency.; v /Attacks Lupqn, hip from many Quarters died down 1 . An era of good fueling, many people thought, was ahead'Of era .in whiph the lions and .the, lambs lln oti> domestic affairs would, lie, down .together sedrfted' to be ahead ,of pi I.; f.';'l i‘. The threat of war had something to do with this, of course.. There were many--weeks when this threat overshadowed all else, when we put our differences' aside, aS we contemplated the ■ possibility 1 of Europe again in arms:;!!'?: ; , thdie who Imagined "thatjPranklinl: 33. • "Roosevelt S had : actually fgone*Hinton reserv6 ( " ‘ that he had bhaiiged) his spots, that he was any less a Liberal 1 / than; before; in' other word’s,- that he ; had gone over to the “enemy’’—those, wjio'. imagined thatreckoned -badly, , ; It hwi turned out that Mr Roosevelt was merely, biding his time. He is as much devoted to his type of extremism •is he has ; eveir been. ~He 'has no. thought of surrender to the Tories in American politics. - He never meant by his recovery gestures to make the .Conservatives believe that he would take ; thelr side. - .We all know this now, but we did not know It before. For Mr Roosevelt gave every indication of conversion to the Bourbon doctrine that the welfare of-business comes first; that (Of the individual afterwards. , 1 The President has Just taken occasion to dispel any illusions that may have existed regarding his attitude. He wants it understood that he has given Up none of his liberalism, and he warns his party that If it forfeits its liberal support it will, face inevitable defeat in the Presidential election of 1940. A Stunning Blow

■ He did this in a letter to a Jackson Day dinner of ~the Young Democratic Association, held in Washington. His declaration was not “ bally-hooed. • It came a;3 a bolt of lightning in a clear sky, and it has done mudi to demoralise the conservative interests both in his party and. on the outside. It has rome as a stunning shock to big business. ..... To wards, the “reactionaries of his own party who have cherished the feeling that they might seize control of it, the President aimed this shot; “We can destroy pur chances of victory by fratricide, as well as-' by suicide. Nc victories were ever won by shooting at each other., There never was and never'will be a political party whose policies, absolutely fit the. views of all its members. Where men are at variance with the course their party is taking it seams to me there' are only two honourable courses —to join a party that more accurately, mirrors their ideas, or to - subordinate their prejudices and remain'loyal" . ■. ” •- -;; ■ * This is a Clear invitation to the antiNew Deal Democrats to quit their party and ally themselves with the Repubhcans. That invitation created a' storm in party quarters, as well it might. It has widened the breach between the Old Guard Democrats and those of the New Deal. It will add a lot of spice to the contest which will" come with the turn of the year for. control of the. now dominant party in American politics. Third Term Candidacy?

Mr Roosevelt still gives no intimation that he himself will be a candidate for a third term. He is holding that back; Such a candidacy is a threat which serves him as a mighty weapon. Ke will use it to keep his party liberal, if he can. And by liberal he means liberal by New Deal standards, It-is dn open question whether he could renominate himself, if he tried, but no observer of American politics doubts his ability to veto the nomination by his party of any. candidate not acceptable to him, That would seem to mean that, in any case, a New Deal Liberal will be the Democratic stand-ard-bearer ,rtext year.